Christina Aguilera

Early years

Christina Maria Aguilera was born in 1980 on Staten Island and grew up in the Pittsburgh area. Her father, an Ecuadorian emigrant, served as an army sergeant. Her mother was a violinist who became a Spanish translator. At her grandmother's house she found records by soul and blues singers, and she began to enter talent contests, earning a local name as the little girl with a big voice. In 1990 she was eliminated in the semi-final round of Star Search, singing A Sunday Kind of Love, and she later sang the national anthem before Pittsburgh Penguins, Steelers and Pirates games. In 1993 she joined The All New Mickey Mouse Club, where the cast included Britney Spears and Justin Timberlake.

She spent time in Japan, where she recorded a duet with Keizo Nakanishi, and in 1998 she recorded Reflection, the theme song for Disney's Mulan. That led Ron Fair, an A&R executive at RCA Records, to sign her.

Breakthrough

Genie in a Bottle came out in May 1999 and spent five weeks at number one on the Billboard Hot 100. In January 2000 she performed at the Super Bowl XXXIV halftime show, and in May she began her first headlining tour. Her self-titled debut, Christina Aguilera, followed that August and entered the Billboard 200 at the top. She had wanted to make an R&B record, and the label steered the album toward teen pop. She won the Grammy for Best New Artist in 2000, and in September of that year she released Mi Reflejo, a Spanish-language album. In 2001 she appeared with Lil' Kim, Mya and Pink on Lady Marmalade, which topped the Hot 100 for five weeks. By then she had taken legal action against her manager, Steve Kurtz, and hired Irving Azoff.

Stripped

She spent most of 2001 and 2002 on her fourth album, Stripped, which she executive-produced and largely co-wrote. She dyed her hair black and adopted the name Xtina. The lead single, Dirrty, came with a David LaChapelle video that drew protests and a ban on Thai television. Beautiful, written and produced by Linda Perry, reached number two in the United States and won her a Grammy. Fighter followed in 2003. Reviews were mixed at first, but the album went to number two in the United States and in Britain and spent 102 weeks in the British top 100. The album stayed on the Billboard 200 until 2004. In 2003 she toured with Justin Timberlake and then on her own, and at that year's MTV Video Music Awards she performed with Madonna, Britney Spears and Missy Elliott.

Back to Basics

For Back to Basics (2006), a double album, she turned to jazz and soul singers of the 1920s to 1950s and a retro look as Baby Jane. DJ Premier produced the lead single, Ain't No Other Man, which won her another Grammy, and Linda Perry produced the second disc, which includes Candyman. The album went to number one in the United States and Britain, and the Back to Basics Tour ran from late 2006 to late 2008. In February 2007 she sang It's a Man's Man's Man's World at the Grammy Awards, a performance that received widespread praise.

Since 2008

A hits collection, Keeps Gettin' Better, arrived in 2008. Bionic (2010) turned to electronic music and was received coolly, but has since gathered a following. She starred in the film Burlesque, became a coach on The Voice in 2011, and in the same year sang on Maroon 5's Moves like Jagger, a number one. Lotus appeared in 2012, and in 2013 her duet Say Something with A Great Big World won a Grammy for Best Pop Duo/Group Performance. Time named her one of the 100 most influential people in the world that year. Liberation (2018) brought her first tour in nearly ten years, and in 2022 she released a Spanish-language album, Aguilera, which won a Latin Grammy. Stripped was reissued for its twentieth anniversary that October. She has also held residencies in Las Vegas.